Another amazing year of paddling for the Fat Paddler
As we embrace the start of 2012, I thought it time to look back on what has been a truly incredible year for Fat Paddling.
January 2011
The year started with a deadline, with the final manuscript of what was to become The Fat Paddler due into my publisher in the first week of the year. As discussions on the editorial process got underway, I boarded a plan heading for the USA and Canada, where I met up with an incredible bunch of people from the paddling industry. I got to paddle (and sink!) a canoe on the icy waters of Lake Ontario, snowshoe in the freezing cold snowscape of Thunder Bay and of course do kayak rolling lessons with Helen Wilson and Joe O’Blenis.
Rolling classes with Helen Wilson in Thunder Bay, Canada
February 2011
With summer temperatures soaring on my return to Sydney, Team Fat Paddler decided to head to sea in the early dawn, paddling past a bull shark on the way. We also took part in an amazing event known as the “Warrior Dash” for a land-based challenge, where our mate Gelo ended up dislocating his shoulder, before closing out the month with a more gentle morning on Sydney’s beautiful Pittwater.
FP and Gelo, with Warrior Dash 2010 finishers medals.
March 2011
In March I decided to take my kids for their first camping experience and a great canoe trip hunting water dragons. We met up with Andre Janecki and got to watch him putting his newly designed Hybrid sea kayak through its paces. Then Team Fat Paddler hit the fundraising trails before taking part in the Lifestart Kayak for Kids on beautiful Sydney Harbour.
2011 Lifestart Kayak for Kids - not quite as sunny as last year
April 2011
As winter approached Team Fat Paddler were challenged in more interesting ways. A visit and a rock gardening lesson from Jim Kakuk of the Tsunami Rangers introduced us to fun in ocean white water (for some of us, more of an addiction!). The team then took on the Bridge to Beach race in truly frightening conditions, with plenty of capsizes to keep us all on our toes. And then at the end of the month, I took delivery of the first Wenonah Encounter canoe to hit Aussie shores.
Captain Kuk leads the way for some rock gardening in Sydney Australia
May 2011
The month started with a video collaboration with the Tsunami Rangers, where I was able to remix and post a mash-up of their “Greatest Hits” DVD. FatPaddler.com then published its first ever guest post with TFP member Nat comparing the Epic V8 surfski with the THINK Fit. We welcomed a new team mate, Mikey “The Inspector” Stelzer, before I managed to totally smash myself up in a rock garden.
There's something awesome about rock gardens. But they can be painful too!
June 2011
As the cold weather settled in, Team Fat Paddler head out for their first team “Commando Camping” outing, where they had to set up camp in the pouring rain and in the middle of a swamp! I also started testing Wenonah canoes in the search for a good race boat for the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic.
Commando camping, somewhere on a river somewhere in Australia
July 2011
We sadly farewelled team mate Gelo with some rock play before he returned to his homeland of Greece. I also started looking for a new rock gardening and white water playboat, deciding on the Liquidlogic Remix XP10. Then Sydney got battered by giant ocean swell which gave us a great opportunity for surf and play inside Sydney Harbour.
Surfing the winter storm swell under the Winter sun
August 2011
What a month! It started with the official launch of my book at the Sydney International Boat Show. I also took delivery of the Remix and got to paddle her for a full week in all sorts of conditions including surf, rocks, river white water and amongst dolphins. Then Team Fat Paddler expanded both interstate and overseas, with the Canadian chapter taking on the “Conquer the Dog” event in Ontario.
Team Fat Paddler representing in Ontario, Canada (MIDN Steve, MIDN Sammy)
September 2011
Another international trip saw me canoeing in Canada with Badger Paddles, night paddling on the Chicago River and exploring the rocky coastline of Los Angeles. On my return I took delivery of the Wenonah Minnesota II race canoe, and commenced canoe paddle training for the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic.
A return to Kayak Chicago, the setting for Chapter 10 in my book "The Fat Paddler"
October 2011
Despite what seemed like constant rain, I continued canoe training including paddles through both the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park and the incredible Shoalhaven Gorge. I also attended the farewell party for Cas and Jonesy before they flew out for their next challenge, walking across Antarctica. Finally at the end of the month, ten paddlers of Team Fat Paddler took on the 2011 Hawkesbury Canoe Classic, raising over $15,000 for charity as well as bringing plenty of colour and fun to the event.
The Team Fat Paddler concept - fun, friendship, and paddling for charity.
November 2011
With November always being a recovery month after the Classic, Team Fat Paddler spent some more relaxing time introducing new paddlers to the joys of the water as well as partnering up with Benefit Fitness to help push the message of paddling for fitness. We also put a bunch of kayak paddlers on the water for the first race of the 2011 Summer Series, taking out a number of podium places under somewhat controversial circumstances!
Team Fat Paddler.... I think they're going to need a bigger podium!
December 2011
In the final month of the year I spent more time paddling amongst my beloved rocks, introducing new Team Fat Paddler member Martyn to the joys of rock gardening as well. My book The Fat Paddler was released on the iBookstore in ebook format globally and reviewed by David Johnston of PaddlingInstructor.com fame. The team took on the 2nd race of the 2011 Summer Series in Rose Bay with another couple of podium places (this time without controversy). And finally, I announced our new big challenge for 2012, the Island Shamaal in Mauritius, a surfski ocean race that I’ve already begun to train for.
Ocean Whitewater - where surf and swell hits the land, there shall be froth!
What will 2012 Hold?
With 2011 being such an amazing year, it’s hard to imagine how 2012 could hope to get any better. The Mauritius challenge that we’ve set however is a huge one, with surfski racing being an entirely new challenge for us, so for at least the first half of 2012 that will be my entire focus. Of course we’ll still take on other events along the way, including the remainder of the Summer Series, the Lifestart Kayak for Kids, the Bridge to Beach and of course the 2012 Hawkesbury Canoe Classic. Team Fat Paddler will continue to grow stronger and we’ll continue to fundraise for our supported charities, as well as having bucket-loads of fun along the way. Happy New Year everyone, and here’s to an awesome 2012! Cheers, FP
Tags: 2011 Summer Series, Bridge to Beach, Canoe, Hawkesbury Canoe Classic, Lifestart Kayak for Kids, Mauritius, surfski, Team Fat Paddler
The Team Fat Paddler ski boys lead the way down the river during HCC11
With ten paddlers, nine boats, and twenty landcrew, Team Fat Paddler certainly made their presence felt at this years Hawkesbury Canoe Classic. The fun of a bigger group and the incredible team spirit became immediately apparent as the large crew pushed their paddlers down the river. It was clearly the best Classic I’ve ever experienced, but I’ll let the video tell the story – cheers, FP
Video Hint: for those with mega-bandwidth, “full screen” the video for full HD glory!
Tags: Hawkesbury Canoe Classic, Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2011, HCC11, HCC2011, Team Fat Paddler
The Barracuda layup makes the Wenonah Minnesota II look like a long blade
With the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic just days away, I spent this evening preparing the race canoe with stickers – name stickers, sponsor stickers and so on. When I finished I stood back and admired the Barracuda Wenonah Minnesota II – long, smooth, glittering and light – a truly magnificent canoe. Then I started thinking about the journey that had got this magnificent canoe from North America to Sydney in time for this race.
It all started a year ago, when the 2010 Classic was stopped short for me. I was paddling a 14′ plastic canoe with a mate, and over the course of the night we’d pushed our little canoe 93km through torrential rain and gale force winds, only to be stopped after 17.5hrs of paddling due to worsening weather. At that moment I had fallen completely in love with canoeing, with the night’s calamities proving to be one of the most exciting and memorable paddling adventures I’d ever undertaken!
FP and Gelo with our little bath-like canoe at the start of the 2010 Classic
The race left me determined to actually finish it in a canoe in 2011, but I was keen to get my hands on one of the fancy canoes I saw in all the North American catalogues. I wanted something lighter, sleeker and better designed for distance on potentially big water, and started approaching the major manufacturers with a simple question – can you ship to Australia? After a few weeks of approaches I hadn’t had a single positive response, and was debating attempting to get a cedar-strip canoe made when I received an email from a bloke called Travis. He was a canoe instructor living in the Southern Highlands and was about to start importing Wenonah canoes into Australia. My enquiry with Wenonah in the US had been passed on to him.
Travis - a man with a serious canoe passion and skills to match
The rest, as they say, is history. I ordered my first canoe, the Wenonah Encounter, to allow me to train solo. The boat was customised specifically to my needs and when it arrived I was left breathless at it’s beauty and performance. The Encounter is of a standard just not seen in any canoe here in Australia, and I am ecstatic with it. On a recent photo-shoot with the press, it was the boat I chose to be in the pics.
Unwrapped - the Wenonah Encounter - so red and sooo sexy!
Then of course it was time to think about what to race in this year’s Classic. After reading lots of reviews and websites in the US on canoe marathon racing, I decided to give the Wenonah Minnesota II a test run. Travis brought up a ridiculously light canoe in a graphite lay-up and we let the test commence. All I could really say at the end was “wow!”. Beautiful, stable, and in canoe terms, FAST! Immediately after the test paddle, I decided then and there – a Wenonah MNII would be perfect.
At only 19kg, the graphite MNII was a piece of cake for Travis to portage
Another custom order made, a few months wait and then she arrived – the glittery canoe you see at the top of this post. Fast, sleek, gorgeous. And in two days time, about to make its debut in the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic, with not only me paddling in the stern, but with Travis himself stepping into the bow seat to do it with me.
So here I am 12 months after that initial thought about getting a decent race canoe here, admiring how good the boat looks with its new stickers in place, and I thought I really must thank Travis, Paddle & Portage Canoes and Wenonah for getting behind my canoe dreaming. Love the boats and love your work! Cheers – FP
Wenonah - maker of fine performance canoes
Tags: Hawkesbury Canoe Classic, Paddle and Portage Canoes, Wenonah, wenonah canoes, Wenonah Encounter, Wenonah Minnesota II
Travis in the bow, looking out through non-stop drenching rain
With the 111km Hawkesbury Canoe Classic now only 4 weeks away, the need to train has become somewhat more urgent. Having been away overseas hasn’t helped either, so when the opportunity arose I wasn’t going to let a little rain get in the way. That being said, “a little” rain turned into “a non-stop downpour”, so we certainly got wetter than we anticipated! Still, Travis and Mikey arrived at Berowra Waters ready for our session – Trav and I in our Wenonah Minnesota II race canoe, and Mike borrowing a Current Designs kevlar kayak.
Mike trials the Current Design kayak - fast, light, and a tad tippier than his Tupperware boat
Our plan was simple: paddle up stream as far as the high tide would take us, return to the marina for breakfast, and then paddle downstream for a while before returning home. Mike doomed us to a wet ride when just pushing off he said “I don’t think it’s going to rain, do you?”…. five minutes later the skies opened and rained on us for the rest of the day!
Arrival at the upstream rapids, and a little playing in the canoe amongst the rocks
We cruised upstream until we got to the final rapids and were taken with how fast they were flowing. Usually there is but a small trickle through them, but with all the rain the rapids had taken on a much bigger flow and a decent current through the rocks. Travis and I took a few spins paddling up into the flow, catching the moving water and rushing back down through the rocks for a bit of fun. Then it was back downstream, stopping only to show Mike my favourite rock pool and waterfall on the way.
Mikey points out the waterfall. At higher tide, you can paddle right into the rock pool
...then Travis does his best Mikey impersonation
On arrival back at the marina we indulged in a little egg & bacon goodness, washed down with fresh coffee, before bracing ourselves to head back out into the worsening rain. Then, well and truly drenched, we put in another ten kilometres or so through the worsening storm.
Getting a little respite from the rain under a cliff ledge
Travis takes a moment to sponge out the slowly filling boat
A wet but happy Fat Paddler - any paddle is a good paddle!
It may not have been the best conditions to get out amongst it, but it certainly reminded me of last years Hawkesbury Canoe Classic! As I said to Mike and Travis, better to train in the rain and get used to it than only be fairweather paddlers. Anyway, we still managed to get an egg & bacon roll in along the way – ha! Cheers, FP
The Hawkesbury Canoe Classic raises money for Leukaemia research and is an important charity to support – any donation via my profile page will be greatly appreciated. 
Tags: Canoe, Hawkesbury Canoe Classic, Hawkesbury Classic, Wenonah, Wenonah Minnesota II
Canoe Launch Area - No Power Boats!
With Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2011 just four months away, it was time to test the boat I’ve been looking at using for this year’s race. Like last year I’m keen to do the Classic in a canoe, but ever since last year’s non-finish, I’ve been keen to get into a performance boat to shave a little time off the effort. To do so I looked to North America and soon found myself buried in the Wenonah website looking at their incredible array of light-weight canoes. And of course their standout performance marathon boat, the Wenonah Minnesota II.
Wenonah Minnesota II in ultra-light graphite layup - a stealthy boat for night missions
As fate would have it the Wenonah range was about to enter the Australian market via a new start-up, Paddle & Portage Canoes, and the team at Wenonah put me in touch with the canoe enthusiast behind it, Travis Frenay. I quickly ordered in my first Wenonah boat, the solo Wenonah Encounter, a sexy red canoe hotrod which I immediately fell in love with. So it was with great excitement that I organised a test paddle with Travis in the canoe that peaked my initial interest in Wenonah.
Travis surveying the water as we push off into the early morning's first light
We organised a 6am paddle in the magnificent Ku-Ring-Gai National Park to Sydney’s north. Travis arrived with the Minnesota II on the roof and his wife, baby and dingo in the car (I’m trying desperately to refrain from baby/dingo jokes!!) and we quickly got the boat ready to push off into the cold air. The test boat, a Minnesota II in ultra-light graphite & kevlar, weighs in at less than 20kgs and was ridiculously easy for us to unload from the car. The sexy black boat looked stealthy as we pushed it into the inky waters, and with a range of paddles and the “Mystery Barrel” stowed away, we pushed off into the darkness.
I'll never get sick of paddling at dawn. Simply stunning.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with the canoe. I’d read many different reviews ranging from “best canoe ever” to “ridiculously tippy, couldn’t keep it upright”, so I was curious as to its actual stability (a crucial factor for a boat in the Classic). I was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn’t remotely tippy at all, and with two of us paddling in sync the boat moved through the water without so much as a sideways wobble. I was also surprised at how smoothly it passed through the water, with only a slight ripple as a bow-wake and a glide factor that was astounding. We’d stop paddling and watch as the inertia kept the boat moving effortlessly through the water, amazing us at how low the resistance was.
A spectacular view with Travis in the bow seat and the fog in the distance...
...and of course some fat fella in the stern seat ruining the backwards view!
In terms of tracking the boat was brilliant, with it barely needing any corrective strokes at all to keep it running straight. This meant almost all of our paddling effort went into propulsion rather than steerage, keeping the momentum steady and efficient. The MNII actually steers quite well from the bow as well as from the rear, so for minor adjustments to direction Travis would control the boat with little ninja-strokes. For major turns we’d work in unison with him paddling and me stern-ruddering, quickly swinging the boat in whatever direction we wanted.
The end of the line - a deep rock pool leading to some rapids
A pleasant surprise from the Mystery Barrel at break time - real Italian-style espresso coffee!
In terms of speed the MNII is fast…. for a canoe. As a kayaker I was a fraction disappointed with it’s overall speed compared to my kayak, but in comparison to my family canoe the boat is a flyer. It’s length, sharp bow profile, stiffness and lack of any rocker means that it tracks straight and runs fast almost effortlessly, and I could see why it has such a following in North America for marathons. I suspect the boat is actually faster than it seems too, since it moves effortlessly through the water giving away few sensory clues to the real speed that it is achieving. All I did know was that when we got close to shore I was surprised at the rate at which we were speeding past.
The return paddle allowed us to finally warm up with some sunshine
Another area I was keen to test was that of the seat. Canoe paddlers often kneel in their boats and utilise a traditional webbing seat offset at a slight angle. For people like me with serious back or pelvis injuries, kneeling isn’t an option and we tend to spend the whole time sitting. Prior experience has shown me however that sitting for extended periods on webbing seats can get bloody painful as the wooden mounts dig into the underside of your thighs or buttocks, so I was curious to see what the tractor-like bucket seats would feel like. After a few hours paddling I was excited to find no discomfort at all, the seats are shaped well and I found them to be far more comfortable than the webbing seats I was used to. Furthermore the MNII had sliding seats that were supposed to be used for trimming the boat in changing conditions, but this feature could also be used to shift position a little bit when wanting to stretch your legs. All in all the bucket seat was a real winner and to my mind a real game-changer in terms of marathon paddling comfort.
The Minnesota II - efficient, comfortable, fast - a perfect marathon boat
By the end of the days paddle I was in love with the boat. Canoeing is a paddling style I’m growing to love more and more in general but in a high-performance boat the experience lifts just that little bit extra. The Wenonah Minnesota II is a magnificent example of a high quality canoe which would be just as happy tripping your family into the wilderness as it would be by being pushed by athletes. In Australia, where there are few high-end brands, this will have to be be up there as the best canoe on the water.
I must note that I’ve yet to test the MNII in rough conditions so will be keen to try that soon as well, but regardless I think I’ve found my boat for the Classic. A extra special thanks to Travis from Paddle & Portage Canoes for bringing the test boat down to Sydney for me to try out. Cheers – FP
Wenonah Minnesota II in ultra-light graphite layup - one damn sexy boat!
Adjustable sliding bucket seat - bow position
Adjustable sliding bucket seat - stern position
The sharp ended profile of the MNII for maximum efficiency
At only 19kg, it was a piece of cake for Travis to portage
Tags: Canoe Reviews, Hawkesbury Canoe Classic, HCC, Paddle & Portage Canoes, Paddle and Portage Canoes, Travis Frenay, We-no-nah, We-no-nah Minnesota II, Wenonah, Wenonah Minnesota II
